Elementals
Overview Elementals are creatures native to the elemental planes. Some creatures of this type are little more than animate masses of their respective elements, including the creatures simply called elementals. Others have biological forms infused with elemental energy. The races of genies, including djinn and efreet, form the most important civilizations on the elemental planes. Other elemental creatures include azers, invisible stalkers, and water weirds. Lore Sub Types Elementals Elementals are incarnations of the elements that make up the universe: air, earth, fire, and water. Though little more than animated energy on their own planes of existence, they can be called on by spellcasters and powerful beings to take shape and perform tasks. Living Elements. On its home plane, an elemental is a bodiless life force. Its dim consciousness manifests as a physical shape only when focused by the power of magic. A wild spirit of elemental force has no desire except to course through the element of its native plane. Like beasts of the Material Plane, these elemental spirits have no society or culture, and little sense of being. Conjured by Magic. Certain spells and magic items can conjure an elemental, summoning it from the Inner Planes to the Material Plane. Elementals instinctively resent being pulled from their native planes and bound into service. A creature that summons an elemental must assert force of will to control it. Bound and Shaped. Powerful magic can bind an elemental spirit into a material template that defines a specific use and function. Invisible stalkers are air elementals bound to a specific form, in the same way that water elementals can be shaped into water weirds. The strength of the magic and materials that bind an elemental determines how well the elemental functions in a bound form. Golems are elemental spirits bound to physical forms, but weaker materials such as flesh and clay can’t bind elemental power sufficiently. Durable materials such as stone and iron require stronger magic, which consequently binds an elemental more securely. Elemental Nature. An elemental doesn’t require air, food, drink, or sleep. Elemental Myrmidon Elemental myrmidons are elementals conjured and bound by magic into ritually created suits of plate armor. In this form, they possess no recollection of their former existence as free elementals. They exist only tof ollow the commands of their creators Mephits Mephits are capricious, imp-like creatures native to the elemental planes. They come in six varieties, each one representing the mixture of two elements. Ageless tricksters, mephits gather in large numbers on the Elemental Planes and in the Elemental Chaos. They also find their way to the Material Plane, where they prefer to dwell in places where their base elements are abundant. For example, a magma mephit is composed of earth and fire, and it favors volcanic lairs, while an ice mephit, which is composed of air and water, favors frigid locales. Elemental Nature. A mephit doesn’t require food, drink, or sleep. Genies Genies are rare elemental creatures out of story and legend. Only a few can be found on the Material Plane. The rest reside on the Elemental Planes, where they rule from lavish palaces and are attended by worshipful slaves. Genies are as brilliant as they are mighty, as proud as they are majestic. Haughty and decadent, they have a profound sense of entitlement that stems from the knowledge that few creatures except the gods and other genies can challenge their power. Creatures of the Elements. A genie is born when the soul of a sentient living creature melds with the primordial matter of an elemental plane. Only under rare circumstances does such an elemental-infused soul coalesce into a manifest form and create a genie. A genie usually retains no connection to the soul that gave it form. That life force is a building block that determines the genie’s form and apparent gender, as well as one or two key personality traits. Although they resemble humanoid beings, genies are elemental spirits given physical form. They don’t mate with other genies or produce genie offspring, as all new genies are born out of the same mysterious fusion of spirit energy and elemental power. A genie with a stronger connection to its mortal soul might choose to sire a child with a mortal, although such offspring are rare. When a genie perishes, it leaves nothing behind except what it was wearing or carrying, along with a small trace of its native element: a pile of dust, a gust of wind, a flash of fire and smoke, or a burst of water and foam. Rule or Be Ruled. Mortal slaves serve to validate a genie’s power and high self-opinion. A hundred flattering voices are music to a genie’s ears, while two hundred mortal slaves prostrated at its feet are proof that it is lord and master. Genies view slaves as living property, and a genie without property amounts to nothing among its own kind. As a result, many genies treasure their slaves, treating them as honored members of their households. Evil genies freely threaten and abuse their slaves, but never to the extent that the slaves are no longer of use. In contrast to their love of slaves, most genies loathe being bound to service themselves. A genie obeys the will of another only when bribed or compelled by magic. All genies command the power of their native element, but a rare few also possess the power to grant wishes. For both these reasons, mortal mages often seek to bind genies into service. Decadent Nobility. Noble genies are the rarest of their kind. They are used to getting what they want, and have learned to trade their ability to grant wishes to attain the objects of their desire. This constant indulgence has made them decadent, while their supreme power over reality makes them haughty and arrogant. Their vast palaces overflow with wonders and sensory delights beyond imagination. Noble genies cultivate the jealousy and envy of other genies, asserting their superiority at every opportunity. Other genies respect the influence of the noble genies, knowing how unwise it is to defy a creature that can alter reality at a whim. A genie isn’t beholden to any noble genie, however, and will sometimes choose to defy a noble genie’s will and risk the consequences. The Power of Worship. Genies acknowledge the gods as powerful entities but have no desire to court or worship them. They find the endless fawning and mewling of religious devotees tiresome—except as it is directed toward them by their worshipful slaves. Their miraculous powers, the grandeur of their abodes, and the numbers of their slaves allow some genies to deceive themselves into believing they are as powerful as the gods. Some go so far as to demand that mortals of other realms—even whole continents or worlds—bow down before them. Variant: Genie Powers Genies have a variety of magical capabilities, including spells. A few have even greater powers that allow them to alter their appearance or the nature of reality. Disguises. Some genies can veil themselves in illusion to pass as other similarly shaped creatures. Such genies can innately cast the disguise self spell at will, often with a longer duration than is normal for that spell. Mightier genies can cast the true polymorph spell one to three times per day, possibly with a longer duration than normal. Such genies can change only their own shape, but a rare few can use the spell on other creatures and objects as well. Wishes. The genie power to grant wishes is legendary among mortals. Only the most potent genies, such as those among the nobility, can do so. A particular genie that has this power can grant one to three wishes to a creature that isn’t a genie. Once a genie has granted its limit of wishes, it can’t grant wishes again for some amount of time (usually 1 year), and cosmic law dictates that the same genie can expend its limit of wishes on a specific creature only once in that creature’s existence. To be granted a wish, a creature within 60 feet of the genie states a desired effect to it. The genie can then cast the wish spell on the creature’s behalf to bring about the effect. Depending on the genie’s nature, the genie might try to pervert the intent of the wish by exploiting the wish’s poor wording. The perversion of the wording is usually crafted to be to the genie’s benefit Monsters Air Elemental Azer Dao Djinni Dust Mephit Earth Elemental Efreeti Fire Elemental Fire Snake Flail Snail Galeb Duhr Gargoyle Ice Mephit Invisible Stalker Magma Mephit Magmin Marid Mud Mephit Salamander Smoke Mephit Steam Mephit Water Elemental Water Weird Xorn Category:Monster Category:Lore Category:Elemental